Bump In The Night: Arlugbur III

Editor's notes are in ^[brackets]

Arlugbur III

I apologize if I left off on a cliff racer dear reader, my carriage had arrived here in the city of Whiterun. I've been writing this entry right after my encounter you see, and I wanted to be rid of the Reach as soon as possible. I'm also investigating rumors of an assassination plot against the local Jarl.^[1] Now, let's finish the story of how I slew mighty foes.

My blade rested in my right hand, my left hand beginning to channel a ward. The familiar figure of the Chief was not what exited from the Longhouse's trap door. Instead, a storm of bats erupted from it and all the other buildings. They stormed out of the bellows of the forges, and seemed to be rapidly synthesized within the alchemical labs of the apothecaries. The black bats flew all around a central point, converging into a black mass that soon lightened into the figure of Kargur gro-Rozak. He was naked except for his blade of blackness that was erect in his hand.^[2]

"You seem to have escapred your enclosure, Mirmulnir. How, quaint." Mirmulnir huffed a gout of fire in Kargur's direction, but he deflected it with the blade. This would have worried me, but I was more concerned with the fact Kargur was now sprinting directly towards me. Mirmulnir shouted "Yol... Toor Shul!" and this time instead of deflecting it, Kargur dispersed back into the cloud of bats and reappeared in front of the gout of flames.

"You don't understand the power granted by my special diet, dragon." Kargur drew in a deep breath as he continued running forward, I instinctively began to conjure my Ward and braced myself for impact. I expected a blade strike, instead I heard Kargur scream "Tiid Klo Ul!" and he began to rapidly speed up, and he jumped forward with his blade drew back in a strike. He fell blindingly fast and struck down my Ward with a single blow. Before I could recuperate, his blade was repeating it's arc and slashing across my torso. The wound weakened my balance, and he raised his sword to finish me off with decapitation.

Mirmulnir flicked his tail sideways and caught the downward swing, sending Kargur flying and thundering into the side of the mountain. He sneered, "Foolish Ogiim. I am dovah, you bend time and I remain erect. Know what words attempt to slither off that foul tongue of yours!"

He raised his head, and his neck coiled forward in a strike of his voice, shouting "Unslaad-liz Slen Nus!" A frozen eruption issued from his fanged maw and struck at the immobile Kargur gro-Rozak, who reached out to block it with his blade, but was frozen before he could reach it. He was a statue of ice.

"Fool." Mirmulnir sauntered over to the statue and grabbed it with his claws, before flying up into the sky and then throwing it down towards the ground. The frozen form of the Chieftan of Arlugbur shattered in a million pieces against his Longhouse.

Mirmulnir landed again, and looked at me as I healed my wound. "You were not very useful, mortal." I laughed but recoiled against the pain it caused. "Not much I can do against the language of the dragons."

Do not mistake this admission as humility, reader, for I was plotting on ending the life of this evil dragon. An ally of Alduin, Eater of Worlds? He had to be ended!^[3]

"I will fly you out of this fane, mortal, as thanks for services rendered." I bowed, with false humility, "Oh thank you mighty Mirmulnir, my weak frame cannot take another hike across the mountains."

I limped onto the dragon's scaled neck, and grabbed a hold of it's horns. Now, reader, how does one kill a dragon? Why, no way other than through a weak spot on the top of it's skull! I had to plan the moment I struck into the dragon very precisely, lest I kill myself because of falling from the sky. I also had to make sure the body would not be found - I cannot have others claiming my work!

I convinced Mirmulnir my wound had aggravated, and to land in a fog-hidden valley among the mountains. As he descended, I unsheathed my blade. He landed aggressively against the ground, and began to speak. "We have landed, be ready to Periiz you mor-"

My blade had slid in between his scales and into his near iron-tough hide. Mirmulnir screamed in agony and began to rapidly shake his head back and forth, attempting to throw me off. "Betrayer! I will end you, Rothras! I'm the great dragon!"

I had to act quickly, reader, otherwise the trauma of his titanic movements would give me a injury to the mind. I quickly channeled a gout of fire into the open wound, which seemed to work as the dragon threw it's head skyward and screamed in pain before falling limp onto the ground.

I jumped off my perch, and checked for any beat of his breath or pulse. I had succeeded. And that is how I slayed the smelly Vampire-Chief of the forgotten Stronghold Arlugbur, and his prisoner, the evil dragon Mirmulnir.^[4]

[1] The Steward and Housecarl of Jarl Balgruuf deny any assassinations attempted near 4E 200 (unlikely), and claim to not know who Rothras is (likely.)

[2] There is a common theme of a sword of "blackness" in the stories of Rothras. It's significance is not particularly understood.

[3] This rapid reversal of the intentions of Rothras is not uncommon, and always seems to occur whenever a stronger figure emerges in the narrative thread.

[4] On the editor's trip to Whiterun described in [1], I met some particularly Talos-enamored guards who swore that they had slain Mirmulnir with the Dovahkiin in 4E 201. This report is wholly unverifiable, and most unlikely. The day they claimed it occurred was before the Dovahkiin's confirmed greeting at High Hrothgar.